The Astrovirus story...

Discovered in 1975, Astroviruses are uniformly small, round viruses with a characteristic starlike appearance in the electron microscope. They were isolated from stool samples of infants suffering from diarrhea, and it wa later found that Astroviruses ar
e not only responsible for causing gastrointestinal disorders in humans, but also in cats, dogs, lambs, deer, mice, and cows. Recent work with sensitive assay techniques has shown the prevalence of this virus to be much higher than previously thought: i
t is endemic all over the world, and second only to Rotavirus as a cause of childhood diarrhea.